Feminists blame your penis for the NSA

The problem with feminist criticism is that it never takes into account the libidinal nature of women. This #feminist piece written by a paranoid takes its cues from the "Gaze" criticism of the 90s. 

The Male Gazed Surveillance, Power, and Gender  By Kate Losse

This "Even outside the engineering floor or the NSA office, gender norms make the position of surveiller more available to men than women-- a man who doesn't post is cool and privacy-savvy; a woman who doesn't post much is considered weird and antisocial. While women smile and perform for social networks, men can use social networks in a proto-surveillant mode, avoiding the gaze that follows women so intensely online. Women have always been the subject of the gaze that demands we reveal ourselves or risk the appearance of hiding something - perhaps our deviation from patriarchal beauty norms (in sexist culture, a crime of sorts)."

Has the NSA spied, or is the NSA currently spying, on members of Congress or other American elected officials?” asks Sen. Bernie Sanders

(DEB) The openly Socialist Senator Benie Sanders pressed the NSA on Friday to come clean on whether its highly questionable spying practices extended to members of Congress. “Has the NSA spied, or is the NSA currently spying, on members of Congress or other American elected officials?” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., asked in a letter to NSA Director Gen. Keith Alexander released from the senator’s office.

Fox News reported:

Sanders, who has introduced legislation to curtail the agency’s spying capabilities, said the United States must be “vigilant and aggressive” in protecting the nation from terrorism, but he also cited U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon’s recent ruling that certain practices by the NSA are “almost Orwellian.”

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, responded to Sanders’ letter, saying it’s a question “millions of Americans would like answered.”

On Saturday, the NSA responded to Sanders’ query, saying Congress has “the same privacy protections as all U.S. persons.” Not the most reassuring of answers given the fact that the NSA has been spying on all US persons.

“NSA’s authorities to collect signals intelligence data include procedures that protect the privacy of U.S. persons. Such protections are built into and cut across the entire process. Members of Congress have the same privacy protections as all U.S. persons,” said the agency in a statement obtained by CNN.

The response goes on to promise the agency will continue to work with Congress on the issues – without ever addressing the senator’s real question.

Via the WaPo:

The answer is telling. We already know that the NSA collects records on virtually every phone call made in the United States. That program was renewed for the 36th time on Friday. If members of Congress are treated no differently than other Americans, then the NSA likely keeps tabs on every call they make as well.

It’s a relief to know that Congress doesn’t get a special carve-out (they’re just like us!). But the egalitarianism of it all will likely be of little comfort to Sanders.”

I was very unhappy to see the Volokh Conspiracy turn this into an attack on Ted Cruz. It is no joke. All Americans… including our reps are subject to surveillance based on meta words. People lapped it up when a socialist said it… not realizing he was actually coming from a jaded view. Cruz merely provided the reality in a less jaded fashion. I could tell this was a political jab by the way Volokh turned off comments.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has written a letter to NSA’s director, asking whether the agency has spied on members of Congress. It sounds like he’s uncovered a scandal, until you read the fine print. It turns out that Sen. Sanders is simply asking whether NSA collects the metadata for calls made by members of Congress, and every sentient American already knows that answer: NSA’s program collects metadata for all US calls. So Sen. Sanders’s letter isn’t an inquiry, it’s a stunt.The Guardian is an enthusiastic participant in the stunt, with Spencer Ackerman writing that NSA “did not deny collecting communications from legislators of the US Congress.” Well, duh. Unfortunately, it looks as though Ted Cruz, who so far has avoided the worst fever swamps of NSA paranoia, also fell for the stunt, tweeting “@SenSanders asks ? millions of Americans would like answered: Are any law-abiding citizens safe from NSA spying?”
At the risk of being repetitive, Sen. Cruz, we’ve all known the answer for months. NSA’s 215 program collects all domestic call metadata, and it protects all that data by requiring that any search of the data be based on a reasonable suspicion of terrorism. All means all. All Americans’ metadata is collected. All Americans’ privacy is protected by the minimization requirements. Sen. Sanders’s stunt adds precisely nothing to what we know about the program, or to the debate.

The bloggers obviously knew their attack would not hold water with the comments section,,, so I’m commenting here in hope that if I link to it… he will notice.

NSA Installing Spyware

...h/t @NotALemming computer hacking is reportedly done with the cooperation of the FBI and CIA....

bp

From Forbes:
According to the report, this operation is carried out by the NSA’s elite hacking unit, or TAO—not to be confused with the much less imposing Taoism—though there are few details on the scope or targets of the program.

The spy agency reportedly has backdoor access to numerous hardware and software systems from prominent tech companies such as Cisco, Dell, and Western Digital, among others. The NSA can even exploit Microsoft Windows error reports to find weak spots in compromised machines in order to install Trojans and other viruses.

Amendment Curtailing the NSA Fails in the House

(On Wednesday, July 24, 2013 the U.S. House failed to pass an amendment to the 2014 Defense funding bill that would have ensured none of the funds could be used by the National Security Agency (NSA) to “collect records, including telephone call records that pertain to persons who are not subject to an investigation under Section 215” of the Patriot Act.)

Video - Michael Hastings Cremated Without Family Permission; Wife Hires Private Investigator.

(MFS - The Other News)(Video - Michael Hastings Cremated Without Family Permission; Wife Hires Private Investigator.HT: InfiniteUnknown.)

Michael Hastings’ Ashes Sent Home for Burial (San Diego 6, July 14/15, 2013):

Details uncovered by this reporter shed new light into the June 18 death of journalist Michael Hastings.

Hastings’ friend and confidant SSgt. Joe Biggs disclosed a macabre twist in the award-winning journalist’s death in a suspicious single-car accident. According to SSgt. Biggs, “Michael Hastings’ body was returned to Vermont in an urn.” He further alleged, “Family members did not want Michael’s body cremated.”

This revelation provides another wrinkle in the Los Angeles Police Department’s (LAPD) handling of a case they labeled “no foul play” only hours after the writer’s death.

Nevertheless LA County assistant corner, Ed Winter, said it took two days to identify the burned-beyond recognition body of Hastings. Officials also confirmed that an autopsy has been performed, but the cause of death is still pending. Unfortunately the family will have to wait for cause of death answers as LAPD media spokesperson Lieutenant Andrew Neiman indicated, “It will take several weeks to get the toxicology results.”

SSgt. Biggs also emphatically stated that liquor was not a factor in the accident, as Hastings hadn’t consumed alcoholic beverages in five years.

So why is the LAPD delaying the reports?

It was SSgt. Biggs who released the following chilling email to members of the media; “Subject: FBI Investigation, re: NSA -Hey (redacted names) — the Feds are interviewing my “close friends and associates.” Perhaps if the authorities arrive “BuzzFeed GQ,” er HQ, may be wise to immediately request legal counsel before any conversations or interviews about our news gathering practices or related journalism issues. Also: I’m onto a big story, and need to go off the rada[r] for a bit. All the best, and hope to see you all soon. Michael”

The receipt of this email from Hastings tipped the scales for SSgt. Biggs. “This wasn’t an accident and I will continue to investigate his death.”

As an investigative journalist, Hastings saw his fair share of threats. One particular passage in Hastings book, “The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan,” revealed that a former McChrystal staff member made a death threat. “We’ll hunt you down and kill you if we don’t like what you write,” the unnamed staffer said. Hastings coolly retorted: “Well, I get death threats like that about once a year, so no worries.”

Despite the LAPD’s categorization of the Hasting fatal accident as a “no (evidence of) foul play,” LAPD continues to ignore FOIA (CPRA in Calif.) requests made by San Diego 6 News for the police report, 9/11 call, autopsy, bomb squad and toxicology reports, or make the Mercedes available for inspection which only fuels conjecture.)

HYPOCRITES OF EUROPE: France is Using It's Own Version of The US PRISM Spy Program

(LID) François Hollande said US should stop spying. Le Monde revealed French DGSE use similar snooping means (Reuters)

The French Government has been very angry at the the United States because of the NSA Revelations. Perhaps a bit too angry. The French Newspaper, Le Monde has reported that the General Directorate for External Security does the same kind of data collection as the American National Security Agency's PRISM but does so without clear legal authority. The system is run with “complete discretion, at the margins of legality and outside all serious control,” the newspaper said, describing it as “a-legal.” Which means unlike the US program there is no court approval. The French Database is available to the various police and security agencies of France, the newspaper reported, and the data is stored for an indeterminate period. The main interest of the agency, the paper said, is to trace who is talking to whom, when and from where and for how long, rather than in listening in to random conversations. Apparently just like the PRISM also record data from large American networks like Google and Facebook according to Le Monde.

Connections inside France and between France and other countries are all monitored, Le Monde reports. The paper alleges the data is being stored on three basement floors of the DGSE building in Paris. The secret service is the French equivalent of Britain's MI6.

The operation is designed, say experts, to uncover terrorist cells. But the scale of it means that "anyone can be spied on, any time", Le Monde says.

According to the paper, French officials privately claim the that there was a difference between data collection in the name of security while French officials have been collecting data about American citizens they do not spy on the American Embassy in France (American officials are skeptical of those reassurances, and have pointed out that France has an aggressive and amply financed espionage system of its own).




What makes this revelation particularly hypocritical is just yesterday the French Interior Minister Manuel Valls was the guest of honor at the US Embassy's 4th of July party, and rewarded the hospitality by making a speech bashing his host's for the NSA spying program, all the while his country was running a similar program.

Snowden admitted he sought out his position at Booz Allen Hamilton (an NSA contractor) with only one goal in mind: to gather and then disseminate classified documents about NSA surveillance programs.

Snowden ended up enlisting in the US military because he though at first that the Iraq War was noble. He then did the same for the CIA and the NSA…because he thought those institutions were noble.

This seems to be flatly untrue.

According to an interview Snowden gave to the South China Morning Post on June 12th, Snowden admitted he sought out his position at Booz Allen Hamilton (an NSA contractor) with only one goal in mind: to gather and then disseminate classified documents about NSA surveillance programs.
http://cifwatch.com/2013/07/01/glenn-greenwald-speaking-at-marxist-meeting-misrepresents-snowdens-goals/

China's Xinhua News Agency Condemns US 'Cyber-attacks'

Washington has often accused China of being behind US cyber-attacks.

But Mr Snowden has disclosed extensive gathering of phone and internet data by US agencies.

His latest revelations, published in the South China Morning Post, suggest a Beijing University was targeted.

He alleged that as recently as January this year the NSA hacked into computers and servers at the prestigious Tsinghua University in Beijing.

Mr Snowden is reported as telling the paper that on one single day in January, at least 63 computers and servers at the university were affected. »
In a commentary, it said the US had turned out to be the "biggest villain in our age".

GCHQ and the NSA are consequently able to access and process vast quantities of communications between entirely innocent people, as well as targeted suspects.

Hot Air (Britain’s spy agency GCHQ has secretly gained access to the network of cables which carry the world’s phone calls and internet traffic and has started to process vast streams of sensitive personal information which it is sharing with its American partner, the National Security Agency (NSA).

The sheer scale of the agency’s ambition is reflected in the titles of its two principal components: Mastering the Internet and Global Telecoms Exploitation, aimed at scooping up as much online and telephone traffic as possible. This is all being carried out without any form of public acknowledgement or debate.

One key innovation has been GCHQ’s ability to tap into and store huge volumes of data drawn from fibre-optic cables for up to 30 days so that it can be sifted and analysed. That operation, codenamed Tempora, has been running for some 18 months.

GCHQ and the NSA are consequently able to access and process vast quantities of communications between entirely innocent people, as well as targeted suspects.

This includes recordings of phone calls, the content of email messages, entries on Facebook and the history of any internet user’s access to websites – all of which is deemed legal, even though the warrant system was supposed to limit interception to a specified range of targets.)

the program disregarded P2P downloads, even though one might presume that this would be a potential method to use for illicit communication over the open-source Internet.

Skype Provided Backdoor Access To The NSA Before Microsoft Takeover

Skype Provided Backdoor Access To The NSA Before Microsoft Takeover.HT: Other and the InfiniteUnknown. Skype Provided Backdoor Access to the NSA Before Microsoft Takeover (Softpedia, June 20, 2013): The NSA saga continues in the Redmond-based empire, this time with a new report aimed at Microsoft’s flagship VoIP platform Skype. A report published by The New York Times and citing people who asked not to be named for obvious reasons, Skype developed its own user-monitoring system before the Microsoft acquisition in October 2011. It appears that US intelligence agencies have insisted that local software companies must cooperate closer with the NSA, so it asked several top vendors, including Skype, to put together secret teams to develop systems that would provide them with backdoor access to users’ conversations. The source claims that the NSA wanted “to control the process themselves” and thus skip the process of contacting the parent company and asking for details on select user accounts. This is how Skype Project Chess was born. “Less than a dozen people inside Skype” have been asked to develop a hidden system that would allow the NSA to access conversations and user details at any time. Skype officially joined the PRISM program on February 6, 2011, so it’s believed that the backdoor access system was already up and running at that time, more than half a year before the Microsoft acquisition was completed. It’s not yet confirmed, but it appears that those tools have already been removed from Skype, as part of Microsoft’s network updates over the years. Tipsters, on the other hand, claim that companies involved in this NSA secret plan have kept the monitoring systems to “control the process themselves.” The interesting thing is that Microsoft is now refusing to comment on this report, even though the company has often denied stories claiming that Skype calls can be wiretapped. The only thing we got from Microsoft in the PRISM scandal is the public statement rolled out this month and claiming that it never provides user details to the government on a voluntary basis.

“We provide customer data only when we receive a legally binding order or subpoena to do so, and never on a voluntary basis. In addition we only ever comply with orders for requests about specific accounts or identifiers. If the government has a broader voluntary national security program to gather customer data we don’t participate in it.”

....yeah right

Michael Hastings #MediaBurnOut: #Wikileaks claims #NSA conspiracy

Hastings, who covered the 2008 presidential election for Newsweek, was hired by Buzzfeed last spring to cover President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign

Michael Hastings contacted WikiLeaks lawyer Jennifer Robinson just a few hours before he died, saying that the FBI was investigating him.

A Confluence of #Evil: #Conspiracies of Silence…From #Arafat To #Benghazi

(U.S. Ambassador Cleo Noel Jr.
who died by Arafat's hand)

(Adina Kutnicki) Welsh at the time was monitoring radio communications between Palestinian leaders in Beirut and the Sudanese capital. Audio tapes made in Cyprus and U.S. embassies in Beirut and Khartoum left no doubt that it was Arafat’s voice directing the operation from Feb. 28, 1973, – the day before the men were kidnapped – to their execution two days later.

Welsh believes the purpose of the initial cover-up was to prevent embarrassment to the State Department and the Richard Nixon White House. After Nixon was gone, the matter was kept quiet to protect the future viability of the NSA’s signals intercepts.
But ultimately, Welsh asserts, the cover-up persisted to protect Arafat’s role as a “peacemaker” and leader of the Palestinian cause.
If transcripts of the tapes had been released, it would have destroyed Arafat, Welsh believes.(MORE)